Importance of good riding gear

Examining my riding gear post the accident in Japan.

Despite sliding at slow pace on ice, the bike scraped the ice off the road in front of me for so I was sliding on the tarmac for a short distance after impacting with road after fall.

Starting from the bottom, my 3/4 length Joe Rocket boots show where they were dragging on the left side ankle height, this area of the boot is well made and protected ankle from injury.

The Alpinestars pants have soft impact absorbing hip and knee armor, that’s the points where I landed and the armor did a really great job as I was not sore afterwards.

Really glad I was not riding in my Draggin Kevlar jeans as would have been a hard wack in them. Also my shorty boots are rather thin about the ankles so I probably will not wear them ever again.

Upper body contact was elbow and shoulder both of which have armor in the Alpinestars jacket and I again was not sore afterwards.

My hands were wearing the Held gloves and these show where my left hand knuckles scraped however they have a metal plate that protected and again no injury at all to me.

My helmet made contact first on the side of the visor which held fast and then on the chin area. The Shark did a great job to not release the visor and to absorb the hit. Don’t think I shall look at any more open face or jet helmets.

I have come off dirt bikes a few times and even slow it hurts hitting the ground with any part of your body not protected by armor and especially so if you wack your head on the ground. I honestly can say I didn’t feel a lot from any point of contact including helmet and it was a slow but still fast enough to have been worse if I had not ben wearing all the gear. The Japanese riders who witnessed were surprised and pleased I was not hurt.

Think I am going to retire a few old favorites that I ride in here after this and make sure everything I use offers a similar level of protection.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Japan Ride 2010

Despite a major incident on tour I again enjoyed riding in Japan.

My original plan got washed out due to the unseasonal arrival of a typhoon off the coast of Japan at the same time I had booked the motorcycle rental. I waited till the last minute scanning the weather reports and reluctantly cancelled the booking. Fortunately the company has a clause that allows you to cancel without penalty due to unforeseen bad weather. I then was lucky to be able to secure the CB1100 for the following week, at first it was showing as unavailable for that period however a phone call revealed it was ok.

Shops open 10.00 in Tokyo and thus by the time I had the paperwork and everything done it was 11.00 and midday before I was out of town. First day destination was Isu, and to ride the Hakone Skyline and neighboring roads. The Hakone Skyline would have to be a near perfect road for motorcycle riding. With spectacular views from high up on the mountain ridge, the ocean far below on one side the a lake on the other it would be nice even with a few corners however it has numerous and they all seem to have been surveyed by a rider such is the perfect radiuses. The CB1100 was showing itself to be a very capable machine, comfy on the highways yet good handling in the mountains.

Next day I rode around the base of Mt Fuji. Lovely ride amongst the autumn foliage with Mt Fuji popping into view in breaks of the trees to the side. You are already up quite high hugging the side of the mountain before it gets very steep and can look down below on the city of Gotenba which is where I stayed the night before. Amazing that these roads barely rate a mention in the Japan best rides yet I could spend the day just riding around Fuji.

After this I again hopped on the highways, which are all toll roads in Japan, and headed north west to Suwa to ride what was my favorite road last time, the Venus Line. You see a portion of the Venus line every visit to Motorcycle Paradise, the header photo was taken there. I really enjoyed this road again, it is as good as it looks. Unfortunately descending down the other side I had a unexpected incident.

Dropping down the western side I was in the shade and the temperature was cold. The road had some tight switchbacks, after rounding one switchback I saw a motorcycle rider down on the road ahead in the middle of some water run off across the road. I slowed with the intention to stop near the rider and entered the wet section of road to then realize the water was mostly frozen to ice. A few things flashed through my mind, ‘that’s why the other rider is on the ground’ ‘maybe I can make it’ and ‘it’s impossibly slippery’ before the bike slide out from under me.

After trying to get up and slipping back over on the sheet of ice I checked myself over and seemed ok and then crawled over to the bike and it seemed ok also, lucky I was nearly stopped. Broken indicator, some scratches to engine cover and mirror and instrumentation pod. After a short while some riders come over to help me and we managed to get the bike up and off the first sheet of ice (no mean feat) and then over another sheet to get to where it can be wheeled clear via the left hand gutter which was full of freezing water but free of ice. The other guy that was on the ground was part of this group and had been leading coming up the range and like me had not been able to see the ice hidden amongst the water in the shade until on top of it.

So after about an hour of cleaning myself and the bike up and checking everything over and helping others I thanked my fellow riders and headed off down the rest of the range. At the bottom I pulled into some shops to get a bite to eat and a coffee and when trying to set the steering lock found out the key would not releaseso thought maybe bars are bent but now think it was Hondas HISS security thinking someone had tried to steal bike. So over some very late lunch I had two thoughts troubling me, chance of more ice on the other alpine roads and the bike seems ok but obviously cannot lock it at night was a problem. I decided to change my plans and not attempt the other two high alpine passes I had mapped out and to return south to Isu which I got to after dark. Had been a long day.

The riding along the north west coast of Isu was wonderful next to the ocean with Mt Fuji on display across the water.The hills behind this are also very nice to ride, I wandered from road to road and didn't find anything not to like, wonderful low traffic curvy mountain roads. I could east spend a few more days riding and exploring around there and the rest of Isu, a really nice area of Japan that is so close to Tokyo.

Finally though I had to return to the big smoke and rounded off the ride with the famous (in Japan) Isu Skyline and roads around Hakone and then the Toyo tyre turnpike before heading back to the bike shop to see what I was going to have to pay excess on the bike insurance. These roads along with Hakone skyline are all toll roads which for a rider cost between 250 to 400 yen at the toll booth (touch more than $2.50 to $4.00).

The excess on the bike was less then $500 which was a relief and the shop was fine about it not agro or really worried. As for the CB itself I really liked it. Surprisingly good handling, very easy to ride, brakes were fine, engine is in a low state of tune so has a broad spread of power and it looks great. My criticisms are the fuel range with the small tank could be better, the seat is a little low for most people and despite looking nice Honda could have still done a bit more on the bike styling wise for the money being asked eg. quad exhausts more retro tank, spoke wheels. I do still like it a lot and if I had one would make it look more like the original CB’s which could be done quite easy. I’ll think about it, if they bring the ABS model over that would more tempting.

I really enjoyed riding in Japan again. The roads are amazing quality and the mountain toll roads seem to be very low traffic and not be policed. I guess I tried to ride too high too late in the season yet the other riders at the ice said they had just come over many passes and there was no ice anywhere else. Not getting very cold here it’s something I have never experienced before. Riding in the traffic in Japan is a nightmare so you do need to factor in the added expense of using the highway system which is all toll roads. Much like last time my fuel bill was about equal to my road toll bill, however hotels there are cheap and include breakfast as well and you can eat very cheap there as well which evens things out. See my last posts on Japan for some more info. I stayed at the Super Hotel chain this time and rented the bike from Rental 819.